Irish grammar
This article discusses the grammar of the Irish language.
The morphology of Irish is in some respects typical of an Indo-European language. Nouns are declined for number and case, and verbs for person and number. Nouns are classified by masculine or feminine gender. Other aspects of Irish morphology, while typical for a Celtic language, are not typical for Indo-European, such as the presence of inflected prepositions and the initial consonant mutations. Irish syntax is also rather different from that of most Indo-European languages, due to its use of the verbâsubjectâobject word order.
Syntax
Word order in Irish is of the form VSO (verbâsubjectâobject) so that, for example, "He hit me" is Bhuail [hit-past tense] sĂ© [he] mĂ© [me].
One distinctive aspect of Irish is the distinction between is, the copula (known in Irish as an chopail), and tĂĄ. Is describes identity or quality in a permanence sense, while temporary aspects are described by tĂĄ. This is similar to the difference between the verbs ser and estar in Spanish and Portuguese (see Romance copula), although this is not an exact match; is and tĂĄ are cognate respectively with the Spanish es and estĂĄ.
Examples are:
- Is fear Ă©. "He is a man." (Spanish Es un hombre, Portuguese Ă um homem)
- Is fuar Ă©. "He is a cold(hearted) person." (Spanish Es frĂo, Portuguese Ă frio)
- TĂĄ sĂ©/TomĂĄs fuar. "He/Thomas is cold" (= feels cold) (Alt. TĂĄ fuacht air [= "Cold is on him"]). (Spanish Tiene frĂo â in this case Spanish uses 'tener' (to have) instead of 'estar' (to be), Portuguese EstĂĄ com frio)
- TĂĄ sĂ© ina chodladh. "He is asleep." (Spanish Ăl estĂĄ durmiendo, Portuguese Ele estĂĄ dormindo)
- Is maith Ă©. "He is good (a good person)." (Spanish Es bueno, Portuguese Ă bom)
- Tå sé go maith. "He is well." (Spanish Estå bien, Portuguese Estå bem)
Nouns
Irish is an inflected language, having, in its standard form, the following cases: common (the old nominative and accusative), vocative and genitive. In Munster dialects a dative form persisted, though this has been largely discarded by younger speakers. The present inflectional system represents a radical simplification of the grammar of Old Irish.
Irish nouns may be masculine or feminine (the neuter having disappeared). To a certain degree the gender difference is indicated by specific word endings, -ĂĄn and -Ăn being masculine and -Ăłg feminine. While it has disappeared from vocabulary, the neuter gender is still to be seen in various place names in Ireland.
Articles
The Irish definite article has two forms: an and na. An may cause lenition, eclipsis, or neither. Na may cause eclipsis, but the only instance of lenition with na is with the genitive singular of the word céad meaning first. An is used in the common case singular for all nouns, and lenites feminine nouns. In the genitive singular, an with lenition is used with masculine nouns, na with feminine nouns. In the dative singular, an may cause lenition or eclipsis depending on the preposition preceding it and on regional norms (in Ulster usage, lenition is standard with all prepositions, while in other regions eclipsis is used with many). Na is the only plural form of the article; it causes eclipsis in the genitive for both genders, and no mutation in other cases.
There is no indefinite article in Irish; the word appears by itself, for example: TĂĄ peann agam. - "I have a pen", TĂĄ madra sa seomra. - "There's a dog in the room".
Adjectives
Irish adjectives always follow the noun. The adjective is influenced by the case, number and gender of the noun preceding it.
- An cailĂn beag
- An bhean bhocht
- Na buachaillĂ Ăłga
Adjectives in Irish have two morphological degrees of comparison: the positive (Irish: bunchĂ©im), e.g. TĂĄ an buachaill cairdiĂșil "the boy is friendly", and the comparative (Irish: breischĂ©im), e.g. TĂĄ an cailĂn nĂos cairdiĂșla nĂĄ an buachaill "the girl is nicer than the boy". A superlative (Irish: sĂĄrchĂ©im) sense is rendered by the comparative in a relative clause, e.g. Is Ă© SeĂĄn an pĂĄiste is cairdiĂșla den triĂșr "SeĂĄn is the nicest child of the three".
Verbs
There are two conjugations and 11 irregular verbs. Tenses or moods are formed by inflecting the stem, and in the past and habitual past tenses and the conditional mood also by leniting any initial consonant. The inflected tense and mood forms are: present indicative, present habitual indicative (differs from present only in the verb bĂ "to be"), future, past indicative, past habitual indicative, conditional, imperative, present subjunctive, and past subjunctive. Verbs also have a verbal noun and past participle, and progressive constructions similar to those using the English present participle may be formed from the verbal noun and an appropriate tense of bĂ. Examples of tense conjugations: (all third person forms without subject pronoun):
- 1st conjugation: FĂĄg "to leave" â d'fhĂĄg (past) â fĂĄgann (present) â fĂĄgfaidh (future) â d'fhĂĄgfadh (conditional) â d'fhĂĄgadh (habitual past) â fĂĄga (subjunctive) â fĂĄgadh (imperative)
- 2nd conjugation: Ceannaigh "to buy" â ceannaigh (past) â ceannaĂonn (present) â ceannĂłidh (future) â cheannĂłdh (conditional) â cheannaĂodh (habitual past) â ceannaĂ (subjunctive) â ceannaĂodh (imperative)
- Irregular: TĂ©igh "to go" â chuaigh (past) â tĂ©ann (present) â rachaidh (future) â rachadh (conditional) â thĂ©adh (habitual past) â tĂ© (subjunctive) â tĂ©adh (imperative)
There is no passive proper in Irish, but there is an impersonal form of the verb, termed the saorbhriathar or "autonomous verb".
Verbs can be conjugated either synthetically (with the personal pronoun included in the verb inflection) or analytically (with the verb inflected for tense only and a separate subject). However, the official standard generally prescribes the analytic form in most person-tense combinations, and the synthetic in only some cases. The analytic forms are also generally preferred in the western and northern dialects, except in answer to what would in English be "yes/no" questions. For example, the following are the standard form, synthetic form and analytical form of the past tense of rith "to run":
Person | Standard | Synthetic | Analytic |
---|---|---|---|
1st sing | rith mé | ritheas | rith mé |
2nd sing | rith tĂș | rithis | rith tĂș |
3rd sing | rith sé | rith | rith sé |
1st plural | ritheamar | ritheamar | rith sinn / rith muid* |
2nd plural | rith sibh | ritheabhar | rith sibh |
3rd plural | rith siad | ritheadar | rith siad |
Impersonal | ritheadh | ritheadh | ritheadh |
*muid is non-standard but is the usual 1st person plural pronoun in the western and northern dialects. |
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns in Irish do not inflect for case, but there are three different sets of pronouns used: conjunctive forms, disjunctive forms, and emphatic forms (which may be used either conjunctively or disjunctively)
Conjunctive forms
The normal word order in Irish is verbâsubjectâobject (VSO). The forms of the subject pronoun directly following the verb are called conjunctive:
Person | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
1st | mé | (muid) |
2nd | tĂș | sibh |
3rd | masc. sé fem. sà | siad |
The form muid in the 1st person plural is not used in the standard language, but is very common in western and northern dialects. The standard and southern dialects have no subject pronoun in the 1st person plural, using the synthetic verb ending -imĂd (alt -imid) instead.
Irish has no TâV distinction, i.e. it does not differentiate between formal and familiar forms of second person pronouns. The difference between tĂș and sibh is purely one of number.
There is no equivalent to the English "it", either "sĂ©" or "sĂ" are used depending on whether the thing the speaker is referring to is a masculine noun or a feminine noun. The exception is the pronoun ea, used in impersonal copula phrases, particularly in the phrases is ea (> 'sea) "yes", "so", "that is so", nĂ hea (the opposite of is ea), nach ea? "is that not so?", an ea (Kerry am b'ea) "Is that so?", fear is ea Ă© "it's a man", and so on.
Disjunctive forms
If a pronoun is not the subject or if a subject pronoun does not follow the verb (as in a verbless clause, or as the subject of the copula, where the pronoun stands at the end of the sentence), the so-called disjunctive forms are used:
Person | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
1st | mé | sinn, muid |
2nd | thĂș | sibh |
3rd | masc. Ă©; fem. Ă | iad |
In Munster dialects the form thĂș is either (a) archaic (replaced by tĂș) or (b) is only found after words ending in a vowel.
- Standard
- Buailim thĂș ("I hit you", present tense), Bhuail mĂ© thĂș ("I hit you", past tense)
- Dialect type (a)
- Buailim tĂș, Bhuail mĂ© tĂș
- Dialect type (b)
- Buailim tĂș, Bhuail mĂ© thĂș
Intensive forms
Irish also has intensive pronouns, used to give the pronouns a bit more weight or emphasis.
Person | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
1st | mise | muidne, sinne |
2nd | t(h)usa | sibhse |
3rd | masc. (s)eisean fem. (s)ise | (s)iadsan |
The forms thusa, eisean and ise are disjunctive forms, while tusa, seisean and sise are conjunctive forms.
The word fĂ©in (/fÊČeËnÊČ/ or /heËnÊČ/) "-self" can follow a pronoun, either to add emphasis or to form a reflexive pronoun.
- Rinne mé féin é. "I did it myself."
- Ar ghortaigh tĂș thĂș fĂ©in? "Did you hurt yourself?"
- Sinn FĂ©in is thus "We Ourselves"
Possessive determiners
The possessive determiners cause different initial consonant mutations.
mo "my" lenites; mâ precedes vowels
do "your (sg.)" lenites; dâ (or t' in many dialects) precedes vowels
a "his" lenites
a "her" takes the radical of a consonant and adds an h to a vowel
|
ĂĄr "our" eclipses
bhur "your(pl.)" eclipses
a "their" eclipses
|
The forms a and ĂĄr can also blend with certain prepositions:
de & do | dĂĄ chara "from/to his friend" dĂĄ feirm "from/to her farm" dĂĄr n-athair "from/to our father" dĂĄ n-athair "from/to their father" |
faoi | faoina chara "about his friend" faoinĂĄr n-athair "about our father" |
i | ina feirm "in her farm" inĂĄr bhfeirm "in our farm" |
le | lena n-athair "with their father" lenĂĄr bpĂĄiste "with our child" |
Ăł | Ăłna bhean "from his wife" ĂłnĂĄr dtaighde "from our research" |
trĂ | trĂna cos "through her foot" trĂnĂĄr dteach "through our house" |
The object of a verbal noun is in the genitive case:
- Tå sé ag plé a rothair. "He's discussing his bicycle" (lit.: He is at the discussing of his bicycle)
Similarly, if the object of the verbal noun is a pronoun, then it is a possessive pronoun:
- Tå sé å phlé. "He's discussing it." (lit.: He is at its (i.e. the bicycle's) discussing)
More examples:
- TĂĄ sĂ do mo bhualadh. "She's hitting me."
- Tå siad do do phlé. "They are discussing you."
- Tå sé å pógadh. "He's kissing her."
- TĂĄ tĂș dĂĄr mbualadh. "You're hitting us."
- Tå mé do bhur bplé. "I'm discussing you(pl.)."
- TĂĄ sibh ĂĄ bpĂłgadh. "You(pl.) are kissing them."
Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns introduce a question, e.g. the words who, what, which. The Irish equivalents are:
- cé "who?, which?"
- cad or céard "what?"
- cĂĄ "which?"
Examples:
- CĂ© a rinne Ă©? "Who did it?"
- CĂ© a chonaic tĂș? "Who did you see?"
- CĂ© ar thug tĂș an leabhar dĂł? "Who did you give the book to?"
- Cad atĂĄ ort? "What's wrong (with you)?" (lit. "What is on you?")
- CĂ©ard a dĂșirt tĂș? "What did you say?"
- CĂĄ hainm atĂĄ ort? "What's your name?" (lit. "Which name is upon you?")
- CĂĄ haois tĂș? "How old are you?" (lit. "Which age are you?")
Prepositions
As the object of a preposition, a pronoun is fused with the preposition; one speaks here of "inflected" prepositions, or, as they are more commonly termed, prepositional pronouns.
|
|
|
Numbers
Cardinal numbers
There are three kinds of cardinal numbers in Irish: disjunctive numbers, nonhuman conjunctive numbers, and human conjunctive numbers.
Disjunctive numbers
0 | nåid | 13 | a trà déag |
1 | a haon | 14 | a ceathair déag |
2 | a dĂł | 20 | fiche |
3 | a trĂ | 21 | fiche a haon |
4 | a ceathair | 30 | trĂocha |
5 | a cĂșig | 40 | daichead |
6 | a sé | 50 | caoga |
7 | a seacht | 60 | seasca |
8 | a hocht | 70 | seachtĂł |
9 | a naoi | 80 | ochtĂł |
10 | a deich | 90 | nĂłcha |
11 | a haon déag | 100 | céad |
12 | a dĂł dhĂ©ag | 1000. | mĂle |
These numbers are used for example in arithmetic, in telling time, in telephone numbers and after nouns in forms like bus a trà déag "bus 13" or seomra a dó "room 2".
Nonhuman conjunctive numbers
These numbers are used to count nouns that do not refer to human beings, e.g. capall "horse"
1 | aon chapall amhĂĄin; capall amhĂĄin |
13 | trà chapall déag |
2 | dhĂĄ chapall | 20 | fiche capall |
3 | trĂ chapall | 21 | capall is fiche |
4 | ceithre chapall | 22 | dhĂĄ chapall is fiche |
5 | cĂșig chapall | 30 | trĂocha capall |
6 | sé chapall | 40 | daichead capall |
7 | seacht gcapall | 50 | caoga capall |
8 | ocht gcapall | 60 | seasca capall |
9 | naoi gcapall | 70 | seachtĂł capall |
10 | deich gcapall | 80 | ochtĂł capall |
11 | aon chapall déag | 90 | nócha capall |
12 | dhå chapall déag | 100 | céad capall |
"One" as a pronoun is rendered with ceann (lit. "head") when it concerns things and animals, e.g.:
- TĂĄ cĂșig chapall agam; tĂĄ ceann acu breoite. "I have five horses; one of them is sick."
Human conjunctive numbers
These numbers are used to count nouns that refer to human beings, e.g. pĂĄiste 'child'
1 | aon phĂĄiste amhĂĄin; pĂĄiste amhĂĄin |
7 | seachtar pĂĄistĂ |
2 | beirt phĂĄistĂ | 8 | ochtar pĂĄistĂ |
3 | triĂșr pĂĄistĂ | 9 | naonĂșr pĂĄistĂ |
4 | ceathrar pĂĄistĂ | 10 | deichniĂșr pĂĄistĂ |
5 | cĂșigear pĂĄistĂ | 11 | aon phĂĄiste dĂ©ag |
6 | seisear påistà | 12 | dåréag påistà |
"One" as a pronoun is rendered with duine (lit. "person") with people. The other "personal" numbers can also be used pronominally, e.g.:
- TĂĄ cĂșigear pĂĄistĂ agam; tĂĄ duine acu breoite. "I have five children; one of them is sick."
- TĂĄ seisear sa seomra. "Six people are in the room."
Higher numbers are done as with the nonhuman conjunctive numbers: trà phåiste déag, fiche påiste, etc.
Ordinal numbers
1st | an chĂ©ad chapall | 13th | an trĂĂș capall dĂ©ag |
2nd | an dara capall | 20th | an fichiĂș capall |
3rd | an trĂĂș capall | 21st | an t-aonĂș capall is fiche |
4th | an ceathrĂș capall | 22nd | an dĂłĂș chapall is fiche |
5th | an cĂșigiĂș capall | 30th | an trĂochadĂș capall |
6th | an sĂ©Ăș capall | 40th | an daicheadĂș capall |
7th | an seachtĂș capall | 50th | an caogadĂș capall |
8th | an t-ochtĂș capall | 60th | an seascadĂș capall |
9th | an naoĂș capall | 70th | an seachtĂłdĂș capall |
10th | an deichiĂș capall | 80th | an t-ochtĂłdĂș capall |
11th | an t-aonĂș capall dĂ©ag | 90th | an nĂłchadĂș capall |
12th | an dĂłĂș capall dĂ©ag | 100th | an cĂ©adĂș capall |
Phonology
A notable feature of Irish phonology is that consonants (except /h/) come in pairs, one "broad" (velarized, pronounced with the back of the tongue pulled back towards the soft palate) and one "slender" (palatalized, pronounced with the middle of the tongue pushed up towards the hard palate).
Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bilabial | Labio- velar |
Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | ||||||
broad | slender | broad | broad | slender | broad | broad | slender | slender | slender | broad | |||
Plosives | voiceless | pË | pÊČ | tÌȘË | tÊČ | c | k | ||||||
voiced | bË | bÊČ | dÌȘË | dÊČ | É | ÉĄ | |||||||
Fricative/ Approximant |
voiceless | fË | fÊČ | sË | Ê | ç | x | h | |||||
voiced | w | vÊČ | j | c | |||||||||
Nasal | mË | mÊČ | nÌȘË | nÊČ | ÉČ | Ć | |||||||
Tap | ÉŸË | ÉŸÊČ | |||||||||||
Lateral | lÌȘË | lÊČ |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | iË | uË | |
Near-close | j | Ê | |
Close-mid | eË | oË | |
Mid | É (only unstressed) | ||
Open-mid | É | É | |
Open | ÉĄ | ÉË |
Diphthongs: /iÉ/, /uÉ/, /Éi/, /Éu/.
Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
|